Generally, a toaster comprises of a housing, toasting chambers to receive a bread product and heating elements surrounding the toasting chamber, wherein the heating elements applies radiant heat directly to the bread product to brown/toast it.
The first commercially successful toaster did not toast on both side and the bread product had to be manually flipped to toast the bread product on both sides. With advent in technology, this problem has been overcome and toasters capable of toasting bread product on both sides are available now.
Power consumption of these toasters is approximately between the range of 600 to 2000 watts depending upon type of toaster. However, in spite of the amount of energy used, the bread product is often not evenly toasted i.e. the toasted bread product near upper-half of the toaster tends to be more browned compared to lower half of the bread product. This is because the heat/hot air in the chamber moves up and out of the toaster creating maximum heat towards the top of the toaster. As the top of the toaster is generally open, the hot air escapes and more energy is consumed. Furthermore, the bread product is less toasted near its edges creating a ‘U’-shaped less toasted area along edges of the bread product. This is because ambient air enters the toaster from the perforations on sides and bottom of the toaster.
The temperature difference between the upper part and lower part of the toaster could be between 75° C. to 150° C. depending on various factors like temperature and time settings, mass and temperature of the bread slice, ambient temperature of the toaster itself, etc. This temperature difference results in uneven browning/toasting of the bread slice.
To address this problem of uneven toasting toasters with a covering plate have been made available, wherein the covering plate covers the top part of the toaster. However since the covering plate covers the toaster from the top, the bread product being toasted is not visible and could obstruct the pop-up mechanism. The covering plate thus increases complexity of use of the toaster.
In view of the above there is a need for a toaster addressing at least the above mentioned problems.